Quinault, WA – Road repairs scheduled for Graves Creek Road in Quinault Valley will begin September 3.
National Park staff tell KXRO that a road crew is scheduled to begin repairs to three washouts on the Quinault Valley’s Graves Creek Road on Tuesday, September 3.
2017 storm damage on Graves Creek Road
NPS Photo
According to a release, the Graves Creek Road sustained damage during the last two years of winter storms.
While the Graves Creek Road is closed, there will be no vehicle access to either the Graves Creek Trailhead or Graves Creek Campground.
Staff say that the road will be completely closed to all entry, including foot, bicycle and stock access to provide for public safety during the first repair. This closure will be at the intersection of the Quinault North and South Shore roads.
The first repair is expected to last one week.
During this time, access to Enchanted Valley will be available from trailheads on the park’s east side.
After the first repair is complete, the road will be accessible by foot, bicycle and stock access for the remainder of the work, although parking is limited.
“For visitor and employee safety, visitors must ensure they have the attention and permission of the road crew prior to passing through the work zone.”
For the final washout repair, the road closure is expected to move from the intersection of the North and South Shore roads to approximately milepost 4. This closure is anticipated for the last week of work.
The entire repair project and closure to vehicles is anticipated to last four weeks, with the road scheduled to reopen to all access in early October.
“Graves Creek Road is a six-mile long gravel road that runs from the intersection of the North and South Shore roads to the Graves Creek Trailhead and these repairs are critical to maintaining vehicle access to the area.”
The road repairs will involve the placement of large logs along the length of the embankments, with the logs’ rootwads facing into the stream to encourage the development of fish habitat. Rock ballast will be placed to secure the logs and prevent buoyancy, and the gravel road will then be rebuilt overtop the logs. The logs for this project were salvaged from previous projects in the park.
The cost for the road repair project is $140,000 and is funded through the Federal Lands Transportation Program (FLTP) of the Federal Highway Administration. The FLTP funds projects that improve access within Federal lands (national forests, national parks, national wildlife refuges, national recreation areas, and other Federal public lands) on transportation facilities in the national Federal Lands transportation inventory, and owned and maintained by the Federal government.
For information about visiting Olympic National Park, visitors should consult the park website at http://www.nps.gov/olym.
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